Another day, another stunning camera trap photo. This one is of a silverback Cross River Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli), the rarest of the four gorilla subspecies, and it was taken in Nigera’s Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary. There are only some three hundred individuals from this subspecies still living in the wild, and they’re only found in the heavily forested mountains along the Nigeria-Cameroon border.

Click to enlarge.

Since most of the Cross River Gorillas live outside of protected areas, their main threats come from habitat loss, thanks to farming and road construction, and from poaching. Given how few individuals there are, the subspecies is also at risk of inbreeding and will suffer from the resulting loss of genetic diversity.

About the Author: Dr. Jason G. Goldman received his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at the University of Southern California, where he studied the evolutionary and developmental origins of the mind in humans and non-human animals. Jason is also an editor at ScienceSeeker and Editor of Open Lab 2010. He lives in Los Angeles, CA. Follow on Google+. Follow on Twitter @jgold85.